Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

After packing, we went down for breakfast at 09.30AM (just 30 minutes before pickup). For some reason everything took a bit longer time than we had planned, so when the tuk tuk arrived, we were still eating breakfast. But as with everything else here no one is in an hurry, so we were told to relax and finish our breakfast. The bill turned out to be a lot smaller than expected. 135 USD for 3 nights, Angkor Wat tour, mini-van to Phnom Penh, lots of food and even more beer! After saying goodbye to everyone, we where taken to the mini-van “bus station”, and at 10.30 AM we were on our way to Phnom Penh.

The van was a new Ford Transit, with 12 seats in the back and homemade neck pillows. The car was full, and the driver drove like he had stolen the car (100Km/h in 40Km/h zone). The first 3,5 hours of the drive was on quite good roads with hardly any pot holes, but the last part was bumpy and dusty. It was a lot to see on the drive (crazy traffic, farmers, water buffalos, ox carriages, small villages, markets, whole families on small motorbikes, plenty of temples, trucks with loads twice their own height, people sleeping on home made luggage racks on the back of cars etc.).

The closer we got to Phnom Penh, the more we saw of the flood which was the main reason for the bad roads. Several places we could see trees and utility poles in the middle of what looked as a lake. The traffic into the city was terrible, but soon an ambulance with the siren on caught up with us, and our driver stayed on it’s tail until we were only a couple of blocks from the “bus station”. That way we arrived 30 minutes earlier than expected (4 PM), and took a tuk tuk to the hotel. We were welcomed with a drink, and got a large twin room. It started to rain quite heavily, so we had some food and beer at the hotel before we went for a walk in the neighborhood when the thunderstorm passed. We bought some dark beer at a gas station, and had a relaxed evening at the hotel.